Australia’s monetary system is quite similar to that of New Zealand, with a couple minor differences.

First, sizing. While the paper bills grow in length as the value increases, the coins…are a bit more random. The $2 coin is actually the smallest coin of the bunch. The 50 cent coin is simply gigantic. It may not look it in the picture, but you really notice when you get the coin. Second is the denominations and rounding. There is a 5 cent coin in Australia (not shown). While there is no penny in Australia, with the 5 cent coin final prices get rounded to the nearest 0 or 5 cent mark. New Zealand took things one step further and eliminated the 5 cent coin, making all rounding, either up or down, to zero. Either way, still nice to not have useless coins. I’d also say that the vast majority of things have rounded to the zero cent mark, rather than the 5 so far. I’ve only gotten a single 5 cent piece back in change after nearly a week. Finally, I found the colour here to be quite striking and different – the NZ currency colour reminded me of Canadian money. Aussie colours are all wrong! $20 should be GREEN! 😉

In the ‘same as NZ category’ (with the fine print of, Canada should really adopt this!), taxes here are already included in prices (10%), and tipping is not practiced, required, or expected. Wonderful! 🙂